Best way to find the council tax when searching for flats?

Hi there,
    I have recently been offered a job and we are now in salary negotiations. I am trying to budget London living expenses, and have not yet decided where to live in London. I am looking for 2 bedrooms with a decent garden for around 1000 pounds rent per month. I won't have a car, so we'll be using public transport, and will probably live in zone 2 or 3 (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/maps/London_Connections.pdf [nofollow] ).

    I have mostly been using Rightmove to get an idea of the market for flats. However, most listings I see do not list the council tax band, specific rate, or the address. I know that if I had an address I could look up the rate here: http://www.voa.gov.uk/cti/InitS.asp? [nofollow]

   I'd like advice about how to do either of the following:

1. Get an approximate idea of council tax rates for certain types/levels of property in certain areas of London. Maybe this is impossible and it's all dependent upon very specific property appraisals?

2. Find the specific council tax of a given property. Currently the best I know to do is to look at Google maps, try to guess the address, and then look up the property. Are some property search web sites better about listing addresses, council tax bands, or actual amounts of tax in the listings?

Clearly when I settle on a place I'll get the exact rate. However, it's a ig expense and I want to factor it in to my estimated budget earlier rather than at the last minute.

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I'll also continue my readings through this forum.

Thanks!

-- Kit

Council tax rates vary from town to town, and property to property, just within the same road, or even the same building (i.e. different flats within one building may pay different council tax amounts) - so the only way I have been able to find out exact rates is to look at specific properties... and you will need the postcode of the property and house number to do this.

However, you may also be able to look up the bands and rates for a specific council so that you could see how much you would need to pay for a property in a certain band in a particular area of the city - I would try the council webpages of the areas/boroughs you're looking in for that information.

The best you are going to be able to do is get a ball park idea of what your council tax will be.  Council tax is based on a value that was set for the property I think in 1992.  So, it stands to reason that a bigger flat will command a high council tax.  The bands are A through H.  Just to give yourself something to work with, a 2 bedroom flat is probably going to be at least band D or E.  Like ksand24 said, each council has it's own band settings so once you decide on an area you can look up the bands for a specific council.  Also, keep in mind that you can pay council tax in monthly installments.

Not necessarily, our flat is 3 bedroom and it's a C, and our last 2 bedroom flat was a B. It really depends on the area and age of the property as well.

You're probably best choosing a few properties that suit your requirement and getting in touch with an estate agent directly to get an idea of how flats tend to be banded in a given area.